CHEVROLET SILVERADO EV SEEING BIG ORDERS FROM COMMERCIAL FLEETS

The Ford F-150 Lightning isn’t the only electric truck that’s proving to be popular. Case in point: General Motors CEO Mary Barra revealed in the company’s Q2 2022 earnings call that the Chevrolet Silverado EV Work Truck is showing growing interest among fleet customers, saying that orders are averaging around 200 Silverado EV WT trucks each.

Since its official reveal in January, the Silverado EV has obtained 150,000 reservations in total and we learned later in the year that 85,000 of those were from 300 different companies looking for all-electric work trucks to add to their fleets and escape swollen gas prices.

When you take into consideration that the 2022 F-150 Lightning is sold out of all of its trims, the Cybertruck may or may not be here next summer, and the GMC Hummer EV is moving at a snail’s pace across the assembly line, the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT appears to be a more accessible and trouble free all-electric pickup truck for the moment. It just won’t be here for another year or so.

Barra also shared that while the F-150 lineup is the best selling truck in the United States, the combined sales of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra one-two-punch continues to outsell everybody over the past few years and that they continue that trend this year by a “wide margin.” Both truck were refreshed inside and out for the 2022 model year, as well as adding new trim levels such as the AT4X with Sierra, and ZR2 for Silverado.

2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT: Details

Built off GM’s advanced Ultium EV Platform already employed beneath the GMC Hummer EV, the Chevrolet Silverado EV WT offers 510 hp and 615 lb-ft of torque, and promises an estimated 400-mile range from a full charge. In terms of work, the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT offers 8,000 lbs of towing capacity and 1,200 lbs of payload. For comparison, the 2022 Silverado 1500 WT equipped with the 5.3L L82 V8 is capable of 11,500 lbs towing and 2,170 lbs payload.

According to Chevrolet, the Silverado EV WT will gain a max tow package sometime after launch which will bump the trailing figure up to 20,000 pounds max towing. Which is pretty incredible for an electric truck. The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT also features public DC fast charging capabilities of up to 350 kW which can add approximately 100 miles of range to be in 10 minutes based on GM estimates. WT customers have access to Ultium Charge 360 Fleet Service, which Chevy claims is the industry’s most comprehensive charging solutions for businesses.

In a similar fashion to Ford’s ProPower Onboard, the Silverado EV will offer an available PowerBase power bar charging system. The kit will offer up to 10 outlets and provide a total of 10.2kW of onboard power for work or recreational needs, including powering your home.

The Chevrolet Silverado EV will be offered exclusively in Crew Cab models equipped with a 71-inch bed. Without an engine under the hood, the space between the front and rear seats could be expanded by elongating the cab both forward and rearward.

Unfortunately, the lack of multiple cab configurations does take some flexibility away from commercial clients. The 2022 Silverado 1500 WT offers five different cab and bed combinations: Regular Cab with a choice of a 70-inch short box or a 98-inch long bed, Double Cab with a 79-inch standard bed, or Crew Cab with either the short or standard length bed. Other storage is provided in the lockable eTrunk which sits where the engine used to be. Chevy says there will be a multitude of eTrunk accessories available to help juice productivity on the job.

All Silverado EVs will be enabled by Chevy’s first application of Ultifi, the company’s new Linux-based software platform which enables rapid and frequent software updates. The RST model will offer a 17-inch-diagonal LCD infotainment screen and an 11-inch configurable instrument display with HUD capabilities. The 2024 Silverado EV WT will have smaller infotainment and instrument displays.

The 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV WT will begin production in spring of 2023 for commercial fleet customers. It assembled alongside the Hummer EV at GM’s Factory ZERO, the former Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant that once built the Chevy Volt. Eventually, the retail version of the Chevrolet Silverado EV WT will become available to customers, and will carry an MSRP of $39,000 USD. The $106,000 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST First Edition will follow in the fall of 2023.